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considerable progress, race and gender equity remains a major
concern in architecture and planning, and among the organizations
that oversee education and practice.

The School of Architecture and Planning was created half a
century ago as a direct challenge to orthodox design education. We
live those original principles today, committed to architecture and
planning as interdisciplinary problem-solving enterprises, rooted
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by making and doing, and committed to meeting the needs of clients,
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The Mason’s New Onsite Assistants – A Brick-Hauling Robot and Smart Glasses

The Mason’s New Onsite Assistants – A Brick-Hauling Robot and Smart Glasses

Research by a team of UB architects and engineers would break new ground for architecture and robotics

A robot prototype under development by UB researchers would relieve the brickmason of backbreaking tasks, including hauling bricks across the site and up ladders. Pictured above is OSCR-3, the third version of "On-Site Construction Robot." Photo courtesy of Michael Silver

By Charlotte Hsu and Rachel Teaman

A brickmason’s craft is to study plans, measure and cut
bricks and stones, and then lay the materials with hairline
precision to form stable, well designed structures. But the highly
skilled trade also involves hauling heavy materials, often while
scaling ladders and scaffolding.

Now imagine the brick mason has an assistant – a
four-legged robot – that can grab a stack of bricks, carry
them across the construction site, climb a ladder and deliver the
materials to the mason. The mason tells the robot exactly what and
where materials are needed through a pair of “smart
glasses” that 3d scan the site. This information is then
transmitted offsite to the developer or architect monitoring the
project.

This isn’t the stuff of science fiction, but the research
of a team of architects and engineers at the University at Buffalo.
Michael Silver, assistant professor of architecture and self-made
roboticist, and Karthik Dantu and Nils Napp, both assistant
professors of computer science and engineering, are mid-way through
a multi-year initiative to design, build and program a suite of
tools that would not only improve the life of the mason but break
new ground for architecture and robotics.

OSCR-3 will be able to haul three blocks while climbing a ladder or stairs.

The team has prototyped a series of increasingly complex bots -
all dubbed OSCR, short for On-Site Construction Robot. Silver says
the robot must be strong and lightweight and agile enough to
navigate the minefields of a typical construction site. The
initial prototype weighs just under 6 pounds and stands 18 inches
tall and is being programmed to climb a ladder and carry three
bricks. The final prototype, with advanced grippers and
powerful motors, will be able to stack five bricks, walk or crawl,
and scan the site to track materials.

Reflecting the direction of robotics in general, the droids
would not replace the mason but build smarter labor by taking on
repetitive, backbreaking tasks and introducing logistical
efficiency – e.g., deploying materials across the site faster
and with fewer errors.

The team talked to masons before getting started to understand
the challenges of the job. “Masons are a skilled class in
high demand,” says Silver. “But it’s getting
harder to find people to support them by doing the difficult work
of lugging heavy materials around a site.”

“The focus is shifting from robotics to co-robotics, where
robots work with humans instead of replacing jobs,” he says.
These tools will actually advance the mason’s skills (and
create more time for craft) by automating “dumb
labor.”

All of which could ultimately lead to more advanced masonry and
a new form of generative, or computer-aided, design. “We can
leverage the memory and computing power of the robot to increase
the complexity with which bricks or stones are arranged,”
says Silver.

The research has already garnered support from the American
Institute of Architects and the New York State Council of the Arts.
The team is also pursuing funding from the National Science
Foundation.

To build the initial prototypes, UB architecture students
fashioned plastic parts on a 3-D printer. They tested different
designs for the feet, frame and arm-like grippers that hold
payloads in place. OSCR-3, the current prototype, features carbon
fiber ribs which frame the robot, contain its wires and serve as
handles.

UB programmers give each model its “brains,”
teaching the machines to recognize their surroundings and perform
complex movements, including maneuvering in extremely tight spaces.
That part of the project is led by Dantu and Napp.

“The engineers have the technical expertise, and what we
bring to it is the spirit of making,” says Silver.
“Many of my students come from a construction background, and
they’re very interested in how they can make this tool useful
in industry.”

“We’re moving robots out of the factory and into the
field – that’s a huge next step," says Silver.
“By bringing materials, machines and software together,
we’re developing new processes for making, and that will
change architecture.”

Silver says the innovation is not as much in the hardware as it
is in the programming of the robot. Some of today’s most
advanced automatons function within controlled environments or are
programmed to do single tasks. OSCR’s realm is a construction
site where people, materials and even the landscape are constantly
in flux.

“We’re moving robots out of the factory and into the
field – that’s a huge next step,” says Silver.
“By bringing materials, machines and software together,
we’re developing new processes for making, and that will
change architecture.”

Silver and his partners have already progressed to the second
phase of the research – the development of “smart
glasses” that wirelessly link the mason, robot and offsite
Building Information Modeling systems – virtual simulations
that architects, contractors and engineers use to map how a
construction project is proceeding in space and time. The American
Institute of Architects is supporting that endeavor with a $25,000
grant.

“It will be augmented reality — a wearable interface
that’s right on your eye,” Silver says.
“You’ll be able to put on the glasses and use them as a
control system for the robots. You’ll be able to call up
menus, send voice commands and get information about the job from
architects and engineers.”

While the overall research effort is still in its early stages,
the UB researchers imagine the construction site of the future with
multiple bots scurrying about and smart glasses as commonplace as
the hardhat.

These technologies should be “cheap and easy to deploy, so
that a craftsman can use them like any other tool,” Silver
says.

While medicine, law, and other professions have made
considerable progress, race and gender equity remains a major
concern in architecture and planning, and among the organizations
that oversee education and practice.

The School of Architecture and Planning was created half a
century ago as a direct challenge to orthodox design education. We
live those original principles today, committed to architecture and
planning as interdisciplinary problem-solving enterprises, rooted
in social engagement, nourished by research-in-practice, animated
by making and doing, and committed to meeting the needs of clients,
communities, and society in an increasingly complex urban
world.